Foundation garment



Dec. 26, 1944. H, JASPER 2,366,032

FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed Feb. 5, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet l N ENTOR Y 7 IHALLIE. EEETASFER. wfivw ATTORNEY/ Dec. 26, 1944. H. L. JASPER 2,366,032

FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed Feb. 5.- 1945 Z Sheets-Sheet 2 L gzva mATTORNEY INVENTOR 1 HA Ln: LEE. LIAEPER.

Patented Dec. 26, 1944 UNITED STATES ,PATENT. OFFICE FOUNDATION GARMENTHallie Lee Jasper, Bridgeport, 051111., assignor to The La ResistaCorset Company, Bridgeport, Conn, a corporation of ConnecticutApplication February 5, 1943, Serial No. 474,783

3 Claims.

The presentinvention relates to an improve- .ment in foundationgarments, and particularly a garmentof the corselet type of relativelylightweight construction, and wherein a minimum area of elastic materialis employed while obtaining the desired body mouldin characteristics ofsuch garments. i

. An object of the invention is to so arrange the ensue material thatthe various tensions and strains setup in such garments through thenormal postures assumed, asstanding, Sitting, bending, climbing, etc.,-.will be so. distributed that strain upon the .rear garters and thestockings which is..apt'.to produce runs in the latter will be reduced.and the tendency of the garment to' ride up when resuming atandingposture'from a sitting' or. bending posture is reduced. Thislatter condition is. usually produced in a tube- Bike garment in Whichthe back panel is non-' expansible, or highly resistant to expansion,the lengtheningof the contours of the body below the waistline causinthe body to tend to slide out of the lower portion of the garment, whilethe upper portions of the garment at and above the waistline tend tostay in place upon the body. Consequently, when assumingastandingposture from a bending or sitting posture, the friction between thegarment and the. body causes the lower portion of the garment to ride upas the lengthened contours of the body shorten and the lower portion .ofthebody attempts to slide backv into thegarment.

Various types of garments have been devised wherein the back panel iseXpans-ible, so that the portion below the waistline mayremainsubstantially"fixed on the body as the body ,contour lengthens. andshortens, being allowed to move vertically relative to they portions ofthe garmentv above and at the waistline. As the rear garters are ofnecessity at each side of the vertical center line of the back panel, thejpull and strainlines upon the) garment when .assuiningjvariouspostures are substantially in line with these rear garters, that isalong each side of the back panel, the intermediatecentral portion ofthe back panel being less subjectto vertical strain. "However;': inprevious garments of the ,expansible back type no provision has beenmade for this differential strain, but on the contrary, suchgarments'have included expansible means wherein the expansi bility,orthe elasticity, in ,caseof elastic inserts, has been entirely confinedto or predominant in the intermediate central portion of the back panel,so that theside portions of the back'panel in line with the strain linesof the garters imposed greater resistance to expansion than the jintermediate central portion. Such garments do not compensate for theunequal strains upon the back panel, and consequently have'a tendency'5' to twist, ride up, and exert excessive strain upon resistance topullin strains, while the interme-.

diate central portion has less elasticity and greater resistanceto,pulling strains. The shape of the verticallyelastic insert in itspreferred form is characterized by relatively wide; end por tions and. acontracted central portion. This shape; in addition to its functionalcharacteris- 0' tics related to the difierential strains upon the.

garment, requires a minimum area of elastic material, and also causesthe garment to better conform to the body contours.

A further object is to provide a vertically elastic stretch side panelsof the garment, the connection consisting of expansible stitching,whereby -1.. lengthening of the connection line is permitted through thehorizontal stretch component of the side panels.

With. the above and'other objects in view, an'

embodiment ofthe" invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, andthis embodiment will be hereinafter more fully described with ref erencethereto, and'the invention will be finally pointed'outin the claims.

In the drawings- [Fig 1 is a front plan view of a foundation garment,according to the invention, the same being shown flattened out, and thefastening means being shown partially open. is. 2 is a rear plan view,also shown flattened 'Fig. 3 isan enlarged diagrammatic view,showingcooperative portions of the vertical stretch insert, and one ofthe horizontal-stretch side panels, and sh 5o stretched position.

Fig.4 is a perspective view from the rear, showing thegarmentv as worn;the wearer being shown in a standingposture. 4

Fig. 5 is a. similar view, showing the left leg 55 of the wearer raised,as in a climbing posture.

insert-directly connected along relatively long substantially verticallines to the horizontal-' owing in dot-and-dash lines a;

, lar horizontally elastic gusset insert II, and. provided at its upperend with brassiere portions l2-I2. The front panel III is preferablylined and provided with vertical stays 13-13. Its side edges areslightly curved in along the waist portion and curved out along the hipportion.

To the side edges of the front section there are secured forward sidesections l4l4 of non-elastic fabric, extending between the upper andlower edges of the garment, their upper edges being inclined downwardlyand rearwardly to conform to the usual upper edge design of suchgarments, wherein such pper edge extends from the brassire sections tothe center of the back along downwardly and rearwardly .inclined lines.The forward side section 14, at one side, isstitched to the side edge ofthe front panel H) from the lower edge of the garment to a pointsubstantially in lateral line with the upper end of the elastic gussetinsert II, and from this point to the upper edge of the garment thereare provided suitable fastening means, shown in the illustratedembodiment as a strip ofhook members. l5 secured to the edge of thefront panel [0 and a strip of eye member I6 secured to the edge of theside section 14. Obviously, a zipper fastening, or other suitablefastening means may be employed.

To therearward edges of the forward side sections l4--l4 there aresecured rearward side sections, .eachcomprising an upper non-elasticfabric portion I! which constitutes a part of an upper body encirclingband extending rearwardly from the brassiere portion 12, the lower edgesof these portions I! being inclined downwardly and rearwardly and beingdisposed in proximity to the waistline. The side sections below theportions IT each comprise a horizontally elastic panel IS, the upperedge of which is inclined downwardly and rearwardly to conform to thelower edge of the upper portion l1 and is secured thereto by stitchingIS. The hem of the lower edge of the panel I8 is securedby suitablezig-zag stitching 2|] capable of expansion with the horizontal stretchof the panel.

To the rearward edges of the rearward side sections there is secured theback section of the garment, which comprises an upper'portion 2|, formedof non-elastic fabric material, and provided centrally with ahorizontally elastic gusset insert 22, its upper edge being inclined inV-form from each side edge in continuation of the upper edges of theside sections of the garment. Its lower edge, which extends at each-endtothe ends of the inclined upper edges of the elastic side panels 18 areinclined downwardly towardthe center at a smaller angle than the angleof said inclined upper edges Of the side panels for the purpose ofconforming to the vertically elastic expansion insert 23 of the backsection of the garment The xpansion insert is especially shaped,according to the invention, to take the various strains andtensionsimposed upon the back section of the garment in a compensatingmanner directly related to differentials existing between these strainsand tensions, and as will hereinaftermore fully appear. The insert isarranged approximately at the waistline, its upper edge 24 being ofV-form and extending at its ends to the ends of the upper edges of theside panels l8, and its lower edge 25 being of concavely curved form.The back section below the insert 23 comprises a non-elastic fabricpanel 26, convexly curved at its upper edge and secured to the loweredge of the insert, and its side edges being secured by stitching to theconvexly curved rearward edges of the horizontally-elastic rearward sidepanels l8l8. The illustration in Fig. 2,

shows these panels 18 as lying flat, so that the "side edges of thepanel 23 which are in fact convexly curved appear concave, the resultingfullness in :the back panel being shown close to each of the sidepanels.

Shoulder straps 21-41 are connected between the brassire sections 12 andthe upper edge of the upper back section 2]. Frontgarters 28-48 areconnected to the lower edge of the front panel I.0,.and rear garters29-29 are connected to the lower edge of the rear panel 26 adjacent theseam between the back panel and the rearward side panels l8.

The vertically elastic insert 23 is relatively narrow at the center andincreases in vertical width toward each of its side edges, and theseside edges are secured to the side edges of the horizontally elasticside panels l8 by zig-zag stitching 30 capable of vertical expansion andcontraction upon expansion and contraction of the insert. This action isillustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 3, wherein the dot-and-dashlinesshow the manner in which the horizontal stretch of the side panelpermits alengthening of the line 3|] simultaneously with verticalstretch of the end portion of the insert 23. The insert is formed fromsuitable elastic material having one-way stretch, this material usuallyconsisting of woven strands wherein the vertical strands havea rubbercore rendering suchstrand elastic.

Itwill be seen that for a given extension of the lower edge of theelastic insert 23 wherein the central portion is relatively narrowerthan the end portions, that the relatively long elastic strands at theend portions will have more elasticity and less resistance to stretchingthan the relatively shorter elastic strands at the narrow a standingposture, the back panel 26 will tend to remainin place upon the body asthecontour of the body lengthens in assuming such sitting posture andthe strain upon the'rear garters is taken up in the elastic insertthrough the easy yieldability of the end-portions of the insert in linewith the strain. Hence, the lower edge of the lower-back panel 26remains substantially fixed upon the body due to the fact that thestrains upon the garment caused by lengthening ofthe body contours, aretaken up mainly inthe easily yieldable end portions of the insertsectionrather than in the garters. Thus, when resuming a standing .posture froma sitting posture the bottom line of the back panel 26 remains sub-2,866,032 stantially fixed while the shortening of the contours of thebody takes place through sliding between the bottom edge of the garmentand the upper edge 24 of the elastic insert, the insert contracting asthese contours shorten. Thus, riding up of the garment is prevented.

The compensating action of the garment is especially desirable inassuming a posture where the pulling strain is atone side only, as inclimbing, and wherein the strain is along the line indicated by thearrows in Fig. illustrating the case of raising one leg while the otherleg is in standing position. In the case of assuming a sitting. posturethe strain is in line with the garters on both sides, as indicated bythe arrows in Fig. 6. In addition to its functional characteristics ofproviding increased elasticity and less resistance to stretching in linewith the back garter strain lines, the novel form of the elastic insertgreatly conserves elastic material, the amount of material required inthe garment being greatly reduced while obtaining full elastic effect.Also the convergent center of the insert causes the back of the garmentto better conform to the figure, particularly at the curve of thewaistline where wrinklinghas been experienced in garments employing alarge area of elastic material at this point.

While the elastic material of the insert member 23 is preferably of thewoven fabric type known as one-way stretch, wherein the elastic threadsare disposed in one direction only, it will be understood that othertypes of elastic material may be employed which is elastic in onedirection and non-elastic in the other, or wherein the material haselasticity in both directions. This'also applies to the elastic materialof the rearward side panels I8.

I have illustrated and described preferred and satisfactory embodimentsoflthe invention, but it will be understood that changes may be madetherein, within the spirit and scope thereof, as defined in the appendedclaims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is z 1. A foundation garment, comprising a front section,side sections, and a back section including a non-elastic back panelmember extending from the lower edgeof the garment to a transverse linein proximity to the waistline, an upper member vertically spaced fromsaid back panel member disposed above the waistline, a verticallyelastic transversely disposed insert member secured between said backpanel member and said upper member and having greater vertical inherentelasticity and stretching capacity at its end portions than at itscentral portion, and back garters secured to the lower edge of said backpanel respectively in proximity to each ide edge thereof, their pulllines being substantially in vertical line with the end portions of saidinsert member.

2. A foundation garment, comprising a front section, side sections, anda back section including a non-elastic back panel member extending fromthe lower edge of the garment to a transverse line in proximity to thewaistline, an upper member vertically spaced from said back panel memberdisposed above the waistline, a vertically elastic transversely disposedinsert member secured between said back panel member and said uppermember having relatively wide vertically extending end portion and arelatively narrow vertically extending central portion, whereby said endportions have greater vertical inherent elasticity and stretchincapacity than said central portion, the upper and lower edges of saidinsert member being relatively close at the vertical center anddiverging from each other toward the end edges, and back garters securedto the lower edge of said back panel respectively in proximity to eachside edge thereof, their pull lines being substantially in vertical linewith the end portions of said insert member.

3. A foundation garment, comprising a front section, side sectionsincluding horizontally elastic members having rearward substantiallyvertically disposed edges, and aback section including a non-elasticback panel member extending from the lower edge of the garment to atransverse line in proximity to the waistline and secured to therearward edges of said elastic side members, an upper member verticallyspaced from said back panel member disposed above the waistline, avertically elastic transversely disposed insert member secured at itstransverse edges to said back panel member and said upper member andsecured at its side edges to the rearward edges of said elastic sidemembers, said insert member having greater vertical inherent elasticityand stretching capacity at its end portions than at its central portion,and back garters secured to the lower edge of said back panelrespectively in proximity to each side edge thereof, their pull linesbeing substantially in vertical line with the end portions of saidinsert member.

' HALLIE LEE JASPER.

